Part 6 (1/2)
”Let e palrowled Werper withdrew his hand more quickly than he had advanced it Tarzan resue unusual had occurred He had but exhibited the beast's jealous protective instinct for a possession When he killed he shared the meat with Werper; but had Werper ever, by accident, laid a hand upon Tarzan's share, he would have aroused the sa
Froreat fear in the breast of the Belgian for his savage companion He had never understood the transforht in Tarzan by the blow upon his head, other than to attribute it to a fore, jungle beast, Werper had not known, and so, of course, he could not guess that thelishhtest untoward accident s Not for a moment did Werper attempt to delude himself into the belief that he could defend hiainst an attack by the ape- for the far distant camp of Achmet Zek as rapidly as he could; but armed only with the sacrificial knife, Werper shrank frole Tarzan constituted a protection that was by no er carnivora, as Werper had reason to acknowledge from the evidence he had witnessed in the Oparian temple
Too, Werper had his covetous soul set upon the pouch of gems, and so he was torn between the various emotions of avarice and fear But avarice it was that burned ers and suffered the terrors of constant association with hiive up the hope of obtaining possession of the fortune which the contents of the little pouch represented
Ach of these-these would be for Werper alone, and so soon as he could encoe for America, where he could conceal himself beneath the veil of a new identity and enjoy to some measure the fruits of his theft He had it all planned out, did Lieutenant Albert Werper, living in anticipation the luxurious life of the idle rich He even found hi that America was so provincial, and that nowhere in the neorld was a city that ht compare with his beloved Brussels
It was upon the third day of their progress froht the sound ofof the jungle insects, and the chattering life of the lesser monkeys and the birds
For a ti, his sensitive nostrils dilating as he assayed each passing breeze Then he withdrew Werper into the conceala, there caht a sleek, black warrior, alert and watchful
In single file behind him, there followed, one after another, near fifty others, each burdened with two dull-yellow ingots lashed upon his back Werper recognized the party immediately as that which had accolanced at the ape-nition of Basuli and those other loyal Waziri
When all had passed, Tarzan rose and eed from concealment He looked down the trail in the direction the party had gone Then he turned to Werper
”We will follow and slay theian
”They are black,” explained Tarzan ”It was a black who killed Kala They are the eneanis”
Werper did not relish the idea of engaging in a battle with Basuli and his fierce fightingtoward the Greystoke bungalow, for he had begun to have doubts as to his ability to retrace his steps to the Waziri country Tarzan, he knew, had not the re at a safe distance behind the laden warriors, they would have no difficulty in following thealow, Werper knew the way to the camp of Achmet Zek There was still another reason why he did not wish to interfere with the Waziri-they were bearing the great burden of treasure in the direction he wished it borne The farther they took it, the less the distance that he and Achued with the ape-ainst the latter's desire to exterminate the blacks, and at last he prevailed upon Tarzan to follow the that he was sure they would lead theame
It was many marches from Opar to the Waziri country; but at last ca the trail of the warriors, topped the last rise, and saw before the river, and the distant forests to the north and west
Alike a giant caterpillar through the tall grasses of the plain Beyond, grazing herds of zebra, hartebeest, and topi dotted the level landscape, while closer to the river a bull buffalo, his head and shoulders protruding fro blacks for a moment, only to turn at last and disappear into the safety of his dank and gloomy retreat
Tarzan looked out across the fanition in his eyes He saw the game animals, and his mouth watered; but he did not look in the direction of his bungalow Werper, however, did A puzzled expression entered the Belgian's eyes He shaded the and earnestly toward the spot where the bungalow had stood He could not credit the testialow-no barns-no out-houses The corrals, the hay stacks-all were gone What could it mean?
And then, slowly there filtered into Werper's consciousness an explanation of the havoc that had been wrought in that peaceful valley since last his eyes had rested upon it-Achmet Zek had been there!
Basuli and his warriors had noted the devastation the ht of the far the of the catastrophe
When, at last they crossed the traarden and stood before the charred ruins of their reatest fears becaht of the evidence about the hyenas and others of the carnivora which infested the region, lay rotting upon the ground, and a the corpses re and ornahtful story of the disaster that had befallen his master's house
”The Arabs,” he said, as his azed about in e for several minutes Everywhere they encountered only further evidence of the ruthlessness of the cruel ene the Great Bwana's absence and laid waste his property
”What did they with 'Lady'?” asked one of the blacks